Tag Archives: sales improvement

Everyone is always selling…themselves, their ideas, their desires …we just don’t call it that

The famous burger-flipper’s cry: “Do you want fries with that?” is selling. In fact it’s an up-sell to get you to buy more, and a very good one, as 90%+ accept the up-sell.

The art of selling is not the only important thing you need to be successful in business, but it’s right up there with oxygen to keep your business alive!

So if you want to run your own business but don’t want to learn to sell, then you may want to think again about your chosen path. Maybe you had better think about becoming a librarian. But wait a moment!? How will you get the job? Will there be an interview? Exactly! Selling once again.

“Ah yes!” I hear new start ups or wannabes tell me “but I will set up a restaurant/shop/hotel/widget maker…and people will just come because it will be such high quality and so brilliant!”

Really? And where will you get the startup money from? The Bank? Dragons Den? Your parents? For which you will have to persuade others of the brilliance of your business ideas, through some kind of presentation or business plan pitch, which is of course, erm, selling! Not to mention learning marketing skills to make them aware of your brilliant business to get them in the door.

BUT WAIT!

Be not afraid! Because you probably already have some successful selling experience!

Don’t believe me?

Well on your birthday when you came out of your mummy’s tummy, what was the first thing you did? Cry? For food? That was selling right there. And did you make a sale? Well you are here so I’m guessing you did.

And as a toddler, did you ever manage to persuade your parents to part with their hard-earned cash so you could have an ice cream or a toy? Successful selling, right there.

And did you ever persuade your friends that your idea was the best and you went off and did it? See you are a born sales person. Now even if your idea didn’t work out that is not down to poor sales, that is operations, which is a different article…*smile*!

And were you ever offered a job after an interview or an application? Yes? Successful selling by you, yet again.

So you CAN sell, perhaps for many the question is do you really WANT to?

I know many people who look down their noses at sales, or sales people, and think to themselves, “I never want to be like that!” But wait a minute?

Do you believe in your service, your product or yourself? Well I hope so or why else are you in business? Do you want to help people by helping them to learn of your service and what it can do for them?

So ask yourself: is it that you don’t want to be in sales, or is it that you don’t want to be like the BAD sales people you have met in the past who go beyond persistent to become a pest? In which case I totally agree with you.

No-one likes being sold to. But we all like the opportunity to choose to buy.

And that is what great sales people do. They offer the prospective customer the opportunity to buy, and with the customer’s best interests at heart, work out a way to influence them to use the product or service so that they will become as big a fan as you are.

So in what way are you not being confident about offering your product or service, simply because you did not want to be seen to be selling too hard?

What wooden-legs have you created for yourself, which have been holding you back? You want to help others by helping them to try your service or product don’t you? You do believe in it don’t you?

Because frankly, if you don’t believe in your service or company, then you are in the wrong place or wrong job, because attempting to sell something you don’t believe in, seems to me to be at least a little dishonest. Dishonest to yourself, and inevitably, also dishonest to your customer. And customers will normally see straight through someone who is not passionate about their services, let alone someone who disbelieves in them.

Is that what was worrying you about sales? Well here is the #1 most important sales question ever: do you 100% believe in your product, service or company? Do you smile when you offer it? Can you hand on heart say you use it yourself where possible? If not, then it is time to work out a way that you can answer 100% yes to this question, and if you find you cannot then consider why you are doing what you are doing, and maybe make a bigger change than you were thinking before you read this article.

Do you want to help people? Are you sure? Then you are a born sales man or woman, and all you are missing is the know-how…which brings me onto our next article…;-)

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If this article has whetted your appetite for more, then just call Gary on 07766604226 now, or email: justask@garyplunkett.com for more information or to set up a call or a cup of coffee…